Learning To Speak
by Listen Old Sport
Summary: Gontei has known for a while that he loves her. The only problems are she loves someone else, and he is a mute. Will a mission with her change that? A OC x Hinata One-shot. Rated T for language and violence.


**AN: This is a one-shot based off of my story, ****Do You Mean It?**** It takes place during the time before the war vs. the ninja alliance and Madara takes place. I don't own any of the canon settings or characters; that would be Masashi Kishimoto. I do own my OCs, Gontei, Shoji, Sate, Popori and Oricha, though. And I did make up a few characters for this one-shot. I won't say who, because that would be a spoiler. ;) **

**Oh, and this is fairly long. I'm sorry, it just is. Be thankful it isn't super short.**

* * *

><p>Watching the wind run through the plants in his backyard always calmed Gontei. The chunin liked sitting on his windowsill, his long legs dangling over the side and the scent of the many flowers flooding his nostrils. He and his father lived on the edge of the Leaf village, so the view Gontei had from his bedroom window was mostly vegetation. He couldn't complain; he loved the sight.<p>

Another breeze rolled over the area, rustling the leaves on the trees and the flower petals in the small assortment his father had planted in the backyard. Amber eyes studied the small flowers and made a mental note to make a bouquet later. The boy blew a strand of auburn hair from his eyes, and then pulled his legs back inside the room.

Gontei went to his desk and opened the top left drawer, revealing his collection of throwing needles and other weapons. The shinobi took out a handful of needles and opened the top right drawer to retrieve his homemade poisons. Then, he began doing the tedious work of making the throwing needles poisonous.

The tall male was silent as ever as he performed this task, and he didn't need to strain himself to hear the knock at the front door. His father was still home, and he heard the jonin walk softly to answer the door. There was a muffled conversation, then a pause; his father had welcomed the visitor inside.

"Gontei, come down here," His dad called up from the first floor.

The teenager gathered up his weapons, hiding them in his pouch, then silently started out of his room. Once he had shut his door, he stretched his arms, the muscles straining then relaxing again as he did so. As he descended down the stairs, Gontei swept the main room with his amber eyes, looking for the visitor. He found a female with dark, blue-tinted hair sitting at the counter.

_Popori? _He wondered silently.

No; the hair was far too long to be his cousin's. He took the stool next to the girl, instantly knowing it was Hinata Hyuuga. The mute male let out a breath, making Hinata jump violently.

Gontei smiled.

"Oh, Gontei-kun, you scared me." Hinata said, turning to look him in the eyes. "You're so quiet, and I wasn't paying attention…"

Gontei's father, Sate, placed a cup in front of both of the teens, then poured them all a cup of tea.

"I would think you'd be used to my son's silent nature by now, Hinata-chan." The man teased with a warm smile.

Gontei rolled his eyes, crossing his muscled arms over his defined chest as he watched Hinata take a sip of tea while blushing slightly.

"I-I am, Sate-senpai. I was just thinking when he came down and…"

Sate chuckled, sipping at his own tea. "Of course. Now, I believe you had a reason for visiting?"

The female Hyuuga nodded, turning to Gontei and smiling after he stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

"Gontei-kun, Lady Tsunade has requested for us to come see her as soon as possible." Hinata explained, spinning her cup around on its small plate.

Gontei uncrossed his arms, chugged his tea, and then hopped down from the stool. Both Sate and Hinata gained a look of disbelief.

"That tea was scalding…" Sate muttered while shaking his head.

"Wouldn't it burn his throat?" Hinata mumbled back, playing with a strand of her long hair.

Gontei heard neither of them, though. He was already at the door, switching his slippers out for sandals. Once the shoes were snug, he waited silently for Hinata to finish up her tea and join him.

Hinata took another sip of tea, then pushed it away from her.

"Thank you for the tea, Sate-senpai." She bowed her head and hurried after Gontei.

Sate watched the two teenagers walk off together, sipping at his tea. Gontei walked with his hands in his pockets, while Hinata held one of her arms. Gontei towered over the Hyuuga, but whenever she spoke, he would give her his full attention. The two would be a quiet couple, but a cute one nonetheless.

As the amber eyed jonin finished his tea and peeked at the leaves in his cup, he smiled secretly. He loved fortune telling.

* * *

><p>When the two Leaf chunin arrived at Tsunade's office, Shoji and Ino were speaking in hushed tones and giggling every now and then. When the two future medical ninjas looked up to find Gontei and Hinata, they instantly shut up.<p>

"Hey Hinata-san," Ino greeted as Shoji waved, "Have a good morning, Gontei-san?"

Hinata smiled timidly back at Ino, while fiddling with her fingers. "G-good morning, Ino-san."

Gontei merely nodded to Shoji, thinking to himself. _Those two were probably gossiping. Such a bad habit for old women._

Shizune poked her head into the hallway with a smile then said, "Hinata, Gontei, Shoji; Lady Tsunade will see you now."

The three chunin filed into the Hokage's office, all bowing in unison when they were in their places.

"Morning, Lady Tsunade," Shoji said cheerily, his blue eyes sparkling with happiness.

_Too informal,_ Gontei thought, _what an idiot._

Usually when Gontei and Shoji were asked to come to the Hokage's office, their third teammate, Popori, would do the talking. But Gontei hadn't seen his cousin in a while. Ever since the three of them had brought Suigetsu and Juugo back to Konoha, they had seen less and less of the girl. She spent most of her time training with Juugo to get an understanding of her curse. The fact that Popori had become so withdrawn made Gontei a tad bit unhappy. He had made it his life's goal to protect her, but there had been so many instances in the older girl's life where Gontei had been useless to her. It was enraging for the male, but he always kept his emotions locked away; no one knew he thought these things, and probably never would.

Tsunade gave a scornful look to Shoji, but followed it with a small grin. Shoji did train alongside Ino and Sakura, and he was on rather familiar terms with the busty woman. He knew the Hokage a lot better than Gontei did, anyway.

"Now, down to business," The blonde woman spoke, resting back in her chair. "I've put the three of you together for a fairly simple, but important, mission."

Gontei stole a quick glance at Hinata, who he would be protecting with his life, no matter what the mission was. He'd been on maybe two other missions with the girl, and on both of them, he hadn't let anything bad happen to her. He wasn't planning on letting this mission be the exception.

"The three of you will be traveling to the Land of Rice and will help escort their Lord to the safe house where all the Lords will be held during the war." Tsunade said, resting her head in her hands. "I trust that Shoji's shielding ability, Hinata's Byakugan, and Gontei's leadership skills will ensure this mission will be a success, and an easy task if anything else." She gave each of them a hard look, and then nodded to herself. "Alright, you'll depart in two hours."

The three chunin nodded, bowed, and exited the office.

Ino pounced on them as soon as the door was closed.

"So what's the mission?"

Shoji brushed his dirty blond hair out of his eyes, "Meh, just a transport mission. We're escorting some Lord guy. No big deal."

Ino hit him over the head, having a hard time hiding her smile. "Don't act so superior, you idiot."

Shoji rubbed his head, and then started chasing Ino around the building.

Hinata smiled at them, while Gontei rolled his eyes. The two were an obnoxious couple, but he'd rather have Shoji occupied with Ino all the time than idle by while he hit on every woman he could – including Hinata.

"Gontei-kun," Hinata started, sounding unsure, "do you want to help me get ready for the mission?"

The mute teenager blinked in surprise, then smirked and nodded. He bowed and held out his arm out to indicate that she lead the way. One giggle later, they were headed towards Hinata's home.

* * *

><p>When Shoji finally arrived at the Konoha gate, Gontei was tired of waiting for him and had considered leaving him behind to catch up twice. The second time, he'd even started walking, but Hinata asked him to be patient, and assured the tall male that Shoji would show up eventually. Now that the source of his annoyance was there, Gontei relaxed and prepared to set off.<p>

But of course, Ino was right behind Shoji, and was now saying her goodbyes, like she'd never see him again. Gontei wondered if they were an actual couple, or if they just had claims on each other. Not that it mattered to him if they were an item or not.

Finally, the two blue eyed teens separated themselves and Gontei was free to start walking. Hinata hurriedly waved goodbye to Ino, then caught up to Gontei and fell into step on his left. Shoji hefted up his backpack, then occupied Gontei's right side.

The three walked in silence for about ten seconds before Shoji opened his mouth.

"So Hinata," he started, already grating on Gontei's nerves with those two words. "You and Ino-chan are friends, right?"

The girl glanced over at Shoji, then nodded and looked up at the road ahead. "I-I think so. W-why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering. Since we both like each other and everything, I should maybe make her my girlfriend." He scratched his ear then sighed, "She'd like that, right; the whole 'being a couple' thing? Everyone knows we like each other, and they think we should be together. So, it'd just be common sense for the guy to man up and tell the girl how he felt, right? That's just smart."

Hinata smiled politely, "I-I think she'd love that."

"Cool."

That was the end of that conversation. Gontei was actually surprised Shoji had brought the subject up, and that he had directed his thoughts at Hinata. The boys were practically related with how much they knew each other. Shoji usually came to Gontei when he had some kind of question about anything.

He didn't know if he should be relieved or offended. He had a feeling that Shoji's question was about more than just his relationship with Ino.

* * *

><p>The trio traveled for a total of forty-two hours, and only stopped once to set up camp. There was an awkward dilemma where Hinata somehow lost track of her sleeping bag and Gontei gave his own to her so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. Miraculously, they recovered the lost sleeping bog the next day and traveled onward. Gontei would have bet money on Shoji hiding the bag, but he didn't let his friend know he suspected this. He didn't know what would motivate Shoji to do something like that, anyway.<p>

When they finally reached the Land of Rice's Lord's home, the three Leaf ninja were greeted, introduced to the caravan, and then handed a bundle of clothes to change into as disguises. The whole situation seemed rushed, and Gontei had to wonder if something was being hid from them, or if they were being distracted from something else.

But, he masked those suspicions easily when he saw Hinata in her outfit. She looked gorgeous. She wore a light purple kimono with black floral decorations along the hem. Her hair was pinned up, and a purple flower was clipped to the side of her head.

One of the royal servants grinned at the disguised Hinata. "You will play the role of our Lord's main servant and will ride in the same carriage as His Highness."

Hinata was blushing. It may have been because she was uncomfortable dressed like she was, or because Gontei was blatantly starting at her, almost open mouthed. He couldn't help it; she looked like a princess, no matter how simple the ensemble was supposed to look, on Hinata it looked regal.

Gontei and Shoji were in matching outfits. They both wore white pants with a long black overcoat to hide all of their weapons and the like inside. They also had to wear a sort of square white veil over their faces. It only covered the bottom half of their faces and it had the Lord's symbol embroidered on it in black. The mask kind of reminded Gontei of a square bib with its shape and the two strands they tied at the back of their head to keep in place; it could have been a bib if they tied it around their necks.

The boys would be standing on either side of the carriage, acting as just two more members of the caravan.

"This outfit makes me feel like a fat homeless person." Shoji barged out of his own stall and examined himself in the mirror. He caught a glimpse of Gontei in the mirror and turned with a hidden smirk. "Okay, good. We both look like fat homeless people. Oh – Hinata you look really pretty."

Gontei agreed with the dirty blond, except he would have chosen luminous, beautiful, magnificent, profound, angelic, or a combination of all of those words to describe her – not just 'pretty'.

Hinata blushed anyway, and glanced at her reflection with a small smile. "Th-thank you, Shoji-san."

The royal servant giggled once, then gestured with her long geisha-like sleeve for them to head out. "The caravan will be leaving shortly. Please take your places."

Gontei did as he was told silently while Hinata and Shoji thanked the servant for her assistance.

The caravan wasn't as large as the trio had imagined. There were two carriages, and everyone else was either pulling a cart, carrying some kind of item, or just walking beside the moving vehicles. Gontei noticed that all the people he could see were clad in the same attire as Shoji and himself, which made him feel comforted. That way he could blend in easily.

A small man with glasses and a bald head approached the three. He offered a pleasant smile then bowed his shiny head.

"I would like to thank you three shinobi very sincerely for escorting my Lord. May I ask your names?"

Shoji was first to speak, like always. "My name is Shoji Haida, that's Hinata Hyuuga, and this is Gontei Ikame." He leaned closer to the short man and stage-whispered, "He doesn't talk, but he's like a friendly giant. Well, he's friendly to a point. Annoy him or try to hurt any of us, and he'll throw you. He can, I promise. He's thrown me plenty of times. See how huge he is?"

The man seemed to gulp, but spoke with a smile. "Ah, okay. You may address me as Mizuno. I will be in the Lord's carriage. This way, Hinata-sama," Mizuno bowed to Shoji and Gontei, and then lead the way to the carriage.

Shoji gave the thumbs up, "Okay! We're ready to get a move on."

Gontei shook his head, watching Hinata make her way to the carriage the whole time. She glanced over her shoulder and the two locked gazes until Gontei offered a reassuring nod and Hinata smiled back then disappeared inside the carriage.

The mute shinobi walked once around the entire caravan, examining everything and making sure nothing looked out of place. When this was done, he nodded to Shoji, then to the driver of the royal carriage. Both males nodded back and began their jobs; Shoji produced a force field around the royal carriage with his chakra, and the driver snapped the reigns of the horses and started the trip to the safe house.

Gontei examined the carriage both Hinata and the Lord were in. Those two were who he needed to protect. He wouldn't let anything threatening get into that carriage.

Shoji caught Gontei staring at the carriage and joined him on the right side.

"Ease up," he said in a relaxed tone, which somehow made Gontei stressed. "No one is getting in there, or out for that matter, until I cancel the jutsu. It'd stay put if I dropped dead right here."

That did calm Gontei down a bit. Nothing was getting in or out.

But what if someone was hiding under their seats, waiting for the right moment to strike? What if Hinata was trapped inside there with some dangerous micro mineral meant to poison the Lord, but their tea got switched, and Hinata was poisoned? Granted, Gontei knew poison and all the ways to cure a person of it, but he should have checked everything before people were trapped inside that carriage! His father and Oricha sensei would have known to do that. Why did Hinata have to be so attractive? Her outfit had distracted him and made him forget basic cargo check!

Gontei shot Shoji a look that clearly said 'You have two seconds to take down that force field.'

Shoji quirked an eyebrow. "Why? What's—"

Gontei lifted the shorter male off the ground and gave him a menacing look.

"Alright," Shoji wheezed out, "Okay." When he was back on his feet, he made a hand sign and mumbled, "This is ridiculous."

Gontei ignored him and approached the carriage. He could hear Mizuno whispering.

"…Hinata-sama. We wouldn't want his Highness to wake up. He's sleeping so soundly…"

Gontei backed off. He didn't think that was such a bad conversation. He was wary to let the shield go back up, though. He didn't know this Mizuno person very well, and the way he was talking to Hinata almost sounded condescending. Gontei didn't like that. He walked back to Shoji, adjusting his face mask.

"Can I put the field back up?"

Gontei shook his head.

"Why not?"

Gontei gave him his 'I-have-a-hunch' look that his team had learned to take seriously.

Shoji nodded, and then returned to his side of the carriage.

And that was when things got a little hectic.

Gontei heard more than saw someone jump Shoji, and soon there was someone behind him holding a kunai to his throat. Gontei inwardly screamed at himself. How could he let this happen? Some leader he was. Oh well, he'd just have to make up for it by killing the man behind him. He fished around in his overcoat until he found a poison needle.

"Looks like today just isn't your lucky day, boy." The man said behind him, giving a throaty chuckle.

Gontei rolled his eyes and shoved the needle through the overcoat right into the man's gut, while the other hand grabbed the arm that was holding the kunai to his throat and flipped the man over his shoulder. Gontei glared down at the man and pressed a foot to his chest while taking off the burdening overcoat, leaving him clothed in the white pants and a sleeveless tight black shirt that he usually wore under his button up shirt. He hated being so exposed like this, but he had no idea where his clothes were, and it wasn't the time to worry about something as pointless as clothing.

Ripping the kunai from the man's grip, he sliced open his throat and left him there to die slowly. The poison from the needle was spreading rapidly through his body, and would cut off all his senses one at a time. Sight would be first to go, then touch, smell, taste, and lastly sound. It was really a horrible way to die, but Gontei had sped it up by slicing his throat open. He'd been merciful, really.

Gontei only gave a single glance to Shoji to see if he was okay. The dirty blond was holding his own, looking only slightly banged up. Gontei was high on adrenaline, and seemed to fly to the carriage Hinata and the Lord were in. He practically ran over another goon who tried to get in his way; he really wasn't in the mood to fight anyone. He needed to know if Hinata was alright. Once he was close enough, he ripped the door completely off the hinges and looked inside the carriage.

Hinata was unconscious. That alone was enough to piss off Gontei. What was worse is the Lord was in the same condition. It was the first time Gontei had seen him, and he was honestly surprised. The Lord was a young child, younger than himself. He didn't linger on the fact too long, because the worst part was that Mizuno was awake, and putting his grubby little hands all over Hinata's body.

Gontei didn't think twice about it. He promptly grabbed the small man by his throat, and dragged him out of the carriage. The man looked very surprised, and met Gontei's gaze with wide eyes, clawing at Gontei's hand, trying to make him let go.

"W-what are you doing? You left the Lord without any protection! Tend to him!" Mizuno yelled, sounding like a frightened little boy to Gontei. The shinobi had no time for cowards.

Since he wouldn't speak, Gontei didn't go into why Mizuno was about to die, he just killed him. He took out a poison needle and first jammed it into each of his hands, which were so greedily touching Hinata not a minute earlier. Gontei didn't even want an excuse from Mizuno. He didn't care if the man wasn't a part of what was going on, he was going to die for touching Hinata the way he did. As soon as he yanked the needles out of each of Mizuno's hands, the man yelled for help, saying Gontei had gone mad and was attacking him. Gontei was barely aware of the many pains that shot up his back; he was only focused on killing the man in front of him. He took the needle, and dragged it across the man's stomach, then left him to bleed out onto the road.

Gontei turned around to see two other goons holding up throwing weapons. Now that he wasn't killing Mizuno, Gontei realized the pains were these guys throwing things at him. He could feel it now and almost fell over just thinking about it. He shook his head and stood up to his full height. He was taller than his father, and his father was a fairly tall man, so he easily towered over the two men in front of him. The two men hesitated for only a second before they raised their kunai, and then flung them towards Gontei. At that moment, he realized that he only had the energy to look like he could take everything they could throw at him. In reality, he wouldn't last much longer if he wasn't tended to. He'd die here, and he would never be able to tell Hinata how much he loved her…

Shoji seemed to appear out of nowhere, standing in front of Gontei and deflecting all of the weapons with an invisible chakra shield. Gontei exhaled roughly, and then fell to his knees, reaching behind him to yank out the kunai lodged in his back. Shoji turned to Gontei and put a hand on his back, reaching out with his shield to the two men and sucking all of the chakra out of them, and dispensing it into Gontei. As the two men fell over dead, Gontei stood, feeling stronger than he had when he woke up that morning.

Shoji looked Gontei in the eye with a guilty expression. "I don't know what's going on, but those guys took the Lord…" He pressed his lips together, then said a bit quieter, "And…they took Hinata."

Gontei's eyes widened in surprise and in anger. Why in the world would they take Hinata? The Lord was understandable, but Hinata?

_Shit._ Gontei thought while giving Shoji his 'which-way' look. She was in the same carriage as the Lord, and she looked a lot like royalty. Maybe they thought she was in the royal family. This was very bad. Not only had they let these guys take the person they were supposed to be protecting, but also they had captured Hinata, who had been unconscious for reasons Gontei was unaware of the last time he had seen her.

Shoji nodded, then started sprinting the way he had seen the men carry Hinata off when he had come to save his best friend. "I'm so sorry, Gontei. I saw them take her away, but I couldn't leave you to die. I just couldn't do that to you…or her."

Gontei didn't look at the other shinobi. He wasn't going to focus on what could have been done to prevent Hinata's capture, because Gontei was also at fault. If he had taken Hinata out of the carriage with him, he could have just shoved a poison needle down Mizuno's throat. He'd been too blinded by his rage to think logically. He rarely let that happen. It was Hinata's fault. Whenever she was involved, Gontei's emotions were always running wild. It was highly inconvenient.

It didn't take long for the two boys to catch up with the kidnappers; Gontei was always fast, and Shoji was keeping up with sheer will power—something he had a lot of. The first thing Gontei did when he caught site of the five men was look for Hinata and then the Lord. The man in the middle was holding both of them; the young Lord tucked under one arm, while Hinata was slung over his shoulder.

Gontei had to calm himself, and think things over rationally. From the three men's clothing, the other men who had attacked them were just pawns, and these men were the brains of the operation. They were more than likely just a group of rogue ninja, wanting money right before the big war. They were smart, too. They had waited until Gontei had taken Mizuno away from the carriage and left both Hinata and the Lord alone. Gontei wouldn't be surprised if Mizuno turned out to be one of them.

The auburn haired male took a deep breath, then looked to Shoji and started speaking in the sign language that the two had made up when Popori had left to join Sasuke.

* * *

><p>[ o v e r – w i t h – t h e – r o u g e – g r o u p ]<p>

"This was a good plan, boss." The redhead of the bunch, Yusuke, said as the group arrived at their base. "Those two Leaf shinobi never knew what hit 'em. That big one wasn't so tough after all. All we had ta do was make Mizuno mess with this lil' girl, and he went crazy!" Yusuke cackled as he plopped down on his favorite chair, taking out a bag of chips from the shelf beside him.

The boss set Hinata and the young Lord down on the ground, walking over to his own chair at the middle of the room. "Shut up. Our job isn't done. We still need to collect our reward for these brats."

The last man was leaner than the other two, and sat himself at a table with a book, and began skimming over the page. "The two shinobi will be coming back for them. The smaller one had healing abilities."

Yusuke lot out a sound of aggravation, "Way to be a killjoy, Lon. Even if they do find this place, they won't be able to get in."

Lon shrugged, still reading, "I only tell the facts. That was a fact. And they are more than capable of finding a way in if they search hard enough."

The boss groaned inwardly as his two partners began bickering back and forth like always. "I'd like to give both of you to those shinobi…"

* * *

><p>[ b a c k – w i t h – t h e – b o y s ]<p>

"Do you even know how many guys are in there?"

Shoji was really getting annoying with all of his questions. Gontei was already on edge, he didn't need the added pressure of Shoji's questions. Finally, Gontei got fed up with it, and hit Shoji upside the head. Shoji frowned and narrowed his eyes at Gontei, but stayed quiet. They were outside of the place the three men had entered. It was a small cabin, about a mile away from the road they had been traveling on. Gontei didn't care if there were a hundred men in there; he had to save Hinata.

And, not to mention that Lady Tsunade would have his head if she found out they had failed to keep the young Lord safe.

There were really only two options for getting the two out. They could either barge in and try to kill all of the three rogue ninja quickly without getting banged up themselves, or they could hang around the outskirts of the cabin and see if there was a way to get in without being seen. Gontei preferred the second route, but Shoji was always the get-in-and-out type, and he'd want to just get the whole operation over and done with as quickly as possible. They could fight over how they were going to get it done, or they could just do it how they wanted to. Gontei liked the latter option better once again.

His auburn hair was in his amber eyes, but Gontei really didn't care at the moment. He had to put up with wearing just an undershirt, so he would take all the coverage he could get. He clenched his fists, flexing his muscles, and then turned to his teammate and best friend. Shoji was waiting for orders, his dirty blond hair matted to his forehead with sweat, and his blue eyes bright with determination; he wanted to save Hinata just as much as Gontei did.

Gontei started communicating silently once again, telling of his plan. He would sneak around the perimeter while Shoji walked right in the front door and tried to do as much damage as possible. The plan would have worked a lot better if they had Popori to go with Shoji, but they would make do. When they were done plotting, the boys set off in different directions.

Gontei walked around the small cabin, searching with both his eyes and ears for something out of the ordinary. He didn't find much, just a bird's nest with three little baby birds chirping, probably waiting for their mother to come back with food. He looked up at the birds, wondering if they even had a mother anymore. What if she died while trying to protect them from a predator, and now they were left to defend themselves against other predators?

The tall and well built teen crouched down, pressing his knuckles to his temples. He couldn't sit out here and make metaphors for his own life; Shoji was inside, possibly dying. He had to find a way inside. He took a fist away from his face and punched the cabin in frustration. Miraculously, the wall he punched separated into two parts, opening to reveal a downward staircase. Gontei mentally cheered, then took the steps two at a time, not making a sound.

When he reached the bottom, he realized something. This was where the three went, not into the cabin. They really were smart. That meant that Shoji had barged into an empty house. He should have gone back to tell Shoji as much, but he didn't have time. He had no idea what the rouges had done to Hinata or the Lord.

A footstep sounded to Gontei's left, and out of instinct, he took out a kunai and turned quickly to see who it was. To his surprise, the young Lord was shuffling towards him, looking like he'd been crying and he was ghostly pale on top of that. Gontei dropped his arm to his side and crouched down so he was at eye level with the Lord. The young boy looked up at Gontei and stumbled forward one last time before collapsing into his arms. The small child looked up at Gontei with tears in his eyes and sniffled before wiping away the snot and tears with his sleeve.

"Sh-she saved me. She…fought them off so I could get away. She distracted them and I ran…I'm so scared. What if she dies?"

Gontei's eyes got bigger as the child continued. Hinata had sacrificed herself to let the Lord get away. She was so brave. Gontei was so proud of her at that moment, but at the same time he was scared out of his mind for her. She couldn't take all three of the men by herself. He had to help her. Gontei pointed up and pushed the Lord towards the stairs. The boy didn't have to be told twice; he took the stairs two at a time until he was at the top, where he ran around the cabin, probably crying quietly the whole time.

Taking a deep breath, Gontei moved quickly in the direction the Lord had just come from. He didn't have to go far. There was a single door at the end of the hall. The mute teen pressed his ear up against the door and listened for voices.

"…why she even tried. There was no way she would get us, right boss?"

"She only did it to make sure the boy got away. Now we have a missing Lord."

"Will both of you shut up? She's still awake."

That was all Gontei needed to hear, he stood back up took a single step back, then put all of his weight into breaking down the door. It broke off the hinges, and landed on the ground with a loud thud, taking the attention of everyone in the room. Including Hinata, who was lying on her side, trying to sit up but failing.

"G…Gontei-kun…" She whispered, meeting his amber eyes with her light purple ones.

It pulled at his heart strings, and made him want to kill each of these men as slowly and painfully as possible. So, he quickly took out three poison needles and threw them at each of the men's heart. He hit the fat one with the red hair, but the other two were fast and smart enough to stay on their toes at all times.

The one he struck let out a grunt and ripped the needle from his chest. "Hey! Where did you come from?"

Gontei didn't answer, he was busy fending off blows from the smallest man and trying to keep an eye on the last one, who was approaching the open door. Gontei delivered a punch to his attacker's throat and a kick to the chest, then threw a kunai at the man trying to escape, and got him between the shoulders. The man fell to the floor with a grunt, and Gontei turned to slice the smallest man across the chest with a poison needle. The largest man had managed to stay alive, probably because he was morbidly obese and the poison was taking a while to spread through his system. The large man dove at Gontei, pinning him to the ground. Gontei let out a growl.

The man was chuckling at him, "Stupid shinobi…I'm gonna kill ya…"

Gontei crinkled his brow, and then sucked in a breath before slamming his forehead against the large man's nose as hard as he could. The man let out a yelp of pain and rolled off of Gontei, letting the shinobi back on his feet just in time to have the man that had been trying to escape to fling a kunai at him. Gontei deflected the kunai with one of his own, then stepped away from the large man and gave all of his attention to the last man standing.

"You stupid brat, you got me in the shoulder. Ugh, that hurts…" the man said, rolling back his shoulders and glaring at Gontei.

Gontei squared his own shoulders, ignoring the pain that was now pounding on his forehead. The man ran a hand through his dark hair, and then started towards Gontei.

"Yusuke, stop whining and get on your feet."

"Ah…okay boss." Yusuke said, wiping blood from his nose and popping his neck.

"Lon, stop messing around." The boss said, glaring at the form writhing in pain on the ground.

"I do believe that I can't move…" the man said.

"What are you talking about? I can see you moving right now."

"Yusuke? Boss? Are you still there? I can't hear you…" Lon was now lying still on the ground. He started screaming like a banshee and thrashing around uselessly. The poison had spread through his body and cut off all of his senses. He was screaming to see if he could hear himself, and thrashing to see if he could feel anything.

Gontei smirked and turned to the remaining two men, the larger one swaying on his feet, the poison finally reaching his central nerves. The boss was obviously angry that Gontei had managed to take out his two partners. Gontei could care less. He just wanted to kill this boss person so he could get Hinata to safety.

"You little bastard. I'll have to kill you with my bare hands, then."

Gontei held out his hands, and then twitched his fingers twice, indicating that he wanted the man to bring it. The boss bared his teeth then came at Gontei, two daggers in each hand. He sliced at Gontei, one after the other. Gontei was able to dodge the first two swipes, but when the boss brought them back, he got Gontei on the arm. The dagger cut his flesh open smoothly, a red line at first, and then blood started to trickle down his defined bicep.

Gontei winced, but continued to struggle with the boss. He heard a small gasp behind him, probably from Hinata, but he ignored it. He just had to kill this guy. There was no room for distractions. But, something did distract him. Hinata let out another gasp, and this time it was followed by a familiar chuckle. Gontei took his gaze away from the boss and looked back at Hinata, who was being stepped on repeatedly by Yusuke. Gontei clenched his jaw in aggravation just in time for the boss to stab both of his daggers into Gontei's back.

His amber eyes were hidden from the world as he clenched his eyes shut and attempted to breathe evenly and stay on his feet. He managed to stay up long enough to hear Hinata whisper his name another time. That was enough to give Gontei another surge of willpower. He opened up his eyes and locked gazes with Hinata, giving her a weak smile that she returned, even as Yusuke stepped on her stomach once again.

The boss was laughing manically. It gave Gontei time to pull the daggers out of his back and notice another pair of steps coming into the room. Gontei got down on one of his knees, breathing hard, and looked over his shoulders to see Shoji finally joining the party.

"Jeez. My plan sucked…" The handsome male said with a charming smile that made Gontei roll his eyes. He was never serious.

Both the boss and Yusuke looked at Shoji, and seeing he was the bigger threat, left Gontei and Hinata and went to fight the dirty blond.

While the two men were approaching Shoji, Gontei dropped the two daggers on the ground and crawled over to Hinata. He checked her pulse and found that her heart was fluttering out of control. She looked him over the whole time, smiling when their eyes met. Gontei shook his head and pulled Hinata onto his lap, holding her even though it hurt to do so. He stroked her hair as she breathed shallow breaths. She looked up at him as he looked down at her, a pure love pouring out of his cells and seeping into her flesh as she put together all the pieces.

"Gontei-kun…" She whispered once again, reaching a hand up to feel his cheek.

Gontei grinned down at her, a tear running down his cheek and disappearing under her fingers. He put his own hand on hers, his eyes darting up to see that Shoji had made minced meat out of the two men, and was coming over to heal the two of them. When Shoji found the two of them, he chuckled to himself then put a hand on both of their shoulders, healing them simultaneously.

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><p>After they were both back to full health, Shoji left them to be alone, telling them he was going to check on the young Lord. Hinata was sitting beside Gontei, neither of them looking at each other anymore. Neither of them were sure if what they were assuming was true. Gontei was just glad that Hinata was going to be okay. The possibility that she realized how he felt for her was just too much to hope for. She loved Naruto. Even is she did know, it wouldn't change that fact.<p>

Gontei stood up, running a hand through his hair only to have it fall back into place. He glanced down at the girl he loved, then pressed his lips together and turned to leave. Before he could take a step, Hinata grabbed his hand.

"Gontei-kun, I have to know…" She said quietly, probably using all of her strength to keep her eyes locked on his.

Gontei looked down at her, and then nodded for her to go on.

She took another breath, "Gontei-kun do you…do you_ like_ me?"

Gontei smirked, then knelt beside her and stared into her beautiful orbs. He looked into them, seeing that she really did want to know, and feeling that he didn't have anything to loose by telling the truth, he nodded and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, kissing it before tucking it behind her ear. To his delight, her cheeks instantly became red. Gontei stood again then went to leave.

Hinata grabbed his arm again.

"Gontei-kun, I…" She stood up beside him and stared down at his hand as she held it with both of hers. "I want you to be happy."

The auburn haired boy really wished he had his button up shirt at that moment. He could hide behind his collar then, like Shino did. He looked away; his eyes shut, then he turned back to Hinata and cupped her face in his hands. With a sudden jolt of courage, he leaned closer to her and pressed his lips to hers gently, careful not to hurt her in anyway possible.

It was a quick and sweet kiss, but it was enough for Gontei. He could live forever on that kiss.

He smiled as he pulled away and saw Hinata's eyes were still closed and she was still blushing like mad. A soft chuckle escaped his lips, and as she opened up her eyes to gaze into his, he thought maybe he could say something. Maybe this was what he needed to be able to talk once again. Maybe all he needed was someone to love.

He leaned close to Hinata so his lips brushed her ears as he tried to form the words he wanted to tell her. He tried for a long time, and eventually Hinata wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest. Gontei kept trying, though. He wouldn't tell her these words in a letter; she had to hear them in his voice.

Ah, there were his vocal chords. He could manage these simple words, and then he'd go back to being mute. His body would let him do that, right? He'd just have to see, after he said them.

He kissed Hinata's jaw once before brushing his lips against her ear, knowing he could say these words for her.

"I love you, Hinata-chan."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: And that is the end, ha! To clear some things up, Hinata and the Lord were both drugged in the carriage by Mizuno, who was indeed a member of the rogue ninja group. He wasn't a ninja himself, just a pawn they used.<strong>

**I always loved Gontei in ****Do You Mean It?****, so I just had to make a one-shot for him. I might do the same for Shoji. **

**I'm sorry that it ends so abruptly, but I do have another one-shot for this pair. Its set before this happened, though, so the romance is one sided.**

**If you haven't read my other story, check it out. I'd love to get more reviews on it. And, hey, review this story. I think it's pretty good. I mean, some of it is rambling and unimportant, I suppose, but overall it doesn't suck anything.**

**So, please review and tell me if you like it.**

**Or just favorite it, that works, too.**

**Later,**

**BN**


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